Minnewaska Area possibly had its best season of girls basketball in at least 26 years this past winter.  The Lakers not only had a 28-5 overall record, but they also claimed the WCC title with an 11-1 mark and advanced to the State Tourney where the Lakers went 1-2 to place fourth overall in Class AA.

The Lakers beat Litchfield (63-27), KMS (59-32), NLS (42-36) and Fairmont (53-38) to win the Section 3AA title and then beat Sauk Centre (60-53) in the state opener before losing to eventual champion Providence Academy in the semifinals (88-43) and to Minnehaha Academy in the third-place game (61-42).  It was the fourth-straight state title for Providence Academy.

The only other losses for the Lakers during the season were to NLS (54-47) and Sauk Centre (58-48) early in the season and to Barnesville (54-40) late in the year, which snapped a 17-game winning streak for Minnewaska area. 

Minnewaska Area and Sauk Centre tied for the WCC title this season with 11-1 records, followed by West Central Area (8-4), BOLD (6-6), Melrose Area (3-9), Montevideo (2-10) and Morris Area-CA (1-11).

Among records set this year for the Lakers, Sydney Dahl broke the career blocks record, while Megan Thorfinnson broke the career 3-point shots made record and career steals record.

In addition, Dahl and Thorfinnson became the eighth and ninth Lakers to join the 1,000 point scoring mark for girls basketball.  Dahl ended her career with an unofficial 1,305 career points to place second overall behind Carley Stewart (2017 graduate, 1,600 points), while Thorfinnson ended her career with 1,177 points, placing her fourth on the all-time girls’ scoring list.

Season statistics

Sydney Dahl was the leading scorer for the Lakers this season with 516 points, averaging 15.6 points per game.  She was followed in scoring by Megan Thorfinnson (363 points, 11 ppg), Lauryn Ankeny (304 points, 9.5 ppg), Addy Kath (210 points, 6.4 ppg), Olivia Danielson (192 points, 5.8 ppg), Jayda Kolstoe (182 points, 5.5 ppg) and Alia Randt (145 points, 4.8 ppg).

Dahl was also the top rebounder with 179 total rebounds, followed in the top five by Kath (167), Ankeny (115), Danielson (104) and Jayda Kolstoe (93), and Dahl also led the Lakers with 47 blocked shots this season with Thorfinnson (29), Ankeny (26) and Kath (24) right behind.

Danielson led the Lakers this winter with 53 assists, followed by Thorfinnson (52), Ankeny (45), Kath (42) and Dahl (37), while Ankeny had a team-best 129 steals this season, followed by Thorfinnson (108), Danielson (72), Dahl (69) and Kath (60).

The top shooter for the Lakers this year on two-point field goals was Ankeny, who made 44 percent of her shots, while Thorfinnson led the team in 3-point shooting accuracy at 34 percent and Alia Randt was 70 percent on free-throws to lead the team, followed closely by Thorfinnson (67%) and Kolstoe (63%).

The Lakers were very balanced this season but did have players score at least 20 points 13 different times, including a season-high 28 points by Dahl during a 66-45 win over Montevideo.

Dahl had seven 20-point plus games this season, while Thorfinnson had three (high of 22 points), Addy Kath had one (25 points during a win over Rocori), Lauryn Ankeny had one (23 points during the playoff opener) and Alia Randt had one (20 points during a victory over Benson).

The top rebounding effort all season for the Lakers was 14 rebounds by Dahl during a 53-28 win over Montevideo.  Kath had 12 boards during a late win over Morris and Dahl and Ankeny both had 11 rebounds during a 66-45 win at home over Montevideo.

The Lakers had a season-high 86 points midway through the season during an 86-28 victory over Benson and also scored 82 points during a win over Morris Area, and Minnewaska Area scored a season-low 40 points during the loss to Barnesville.

Overall, Minnewaska Area scored in the 40s six times and five of them were losses.  The only win was a 42-36 victory over NLS in the section semifinals.

In contrast, Providence scored a season-high 88 points against the Lakers during the state tourney.  Minnewaska also gave up 61 points in the final game, but no other team scored more than 58.  The Lakers held opponents to a season-low 17 points during a 55-17 early-season win over Paynesville and held nine other opponents to the 20s.

Other girls notes

•  This season, Minnewaska Area claimed its third WCC girls’ title in school history (also won in 2007-08 and 2008-09), broke the school record for wins in a season (previous record of 24 in 1995-96 and 1996-97) and became the fifth Lakers girls basketball team to qualify to state, joining the 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97 and 1998-99 teams.  

In 1997, the team fell to NLS in the Class AA finals (55-51) and in 1999, Minnewaska lost to Blake in the title game (53-44).

Minnewaska Area finished second in 1997 and 1999, losing to Mike Dreier and the NLS Wildcats in the 1997 finals (55-51) and also losing to Blake in the 1999 title game (53-44).  In addition, the team went 0-2 in 1995 and 1-2 in 1996.

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